Lost did not sweep the Emmys for its final year, but it was an honor just to be nominated. The stars of the series still got the cool swag. During rehearsals, Jorge Garcia visited the P.F. Chang’s Frozen Moments gift lounge where he picked up, appropriately enough for Hurley, some new headphones. He also picked up the Scrabble Flash game, which I was playing myself in between breaks. I caught up with Garcia as he wrapped up at the Vera Bradley station.
Crave Online: What high score did you get on the Scrabble game?
Jorge Garcia: I think I got 14 out of a possible 38.
Crave Online: I only got 12.
Jorge Garcia: Oh, good. At least I beat you.
Crave Online: I’m a writer. I know words!
Jorge Garcia: [Laughs]
Crave Online: I also pre-ordered my Hurley album so it’ll download when it’s out. How did you end up getting a Weezer album named after you?
Jorge Garcia: I met Rivers Cuomo. We took a picture together and like two months later, he asked if I’d be the face on their album and they were going to name it Hurley. How can you not be flattered by that, so yeah.
Crave Online: Hurley lives on long after Lost.
Jorge Garcia: It’ll be kind of cool. I look forward to people at my old work at Borders opening boxes with my smiling face on it and I also look forward to years from now when people refer to the guy on the Hurley album and they don’t even know anything about Lost.
Crave Online: What was the last year like for you as you followed the back and forth reactions fans had week to week?
Jorge Garcia: I’ve always tried to stay connected to the audience and this time we stayed even more connected because we even did a podcast about the show during the last season. It was great. I thought it was kind of funny with the audience reaction to the Jacob origin story kind of setting us up and getting us ready. That was our first polarizing and a lot of people had some issues with that episode. That gave us a taste because we knew that our finale’s going to be bold and it’s going to hit or miss some people. Just kind of go put it out there. We’ve always been aiming to make the show we’d want to watch.
Crave Online: I was on Twitter defending that Across the Sea episode. It was funny because people were hating on it and complaining they never said what the island said. Did they miss that part? They said this is what the island is!
Jorge Garcia: This was interesting. It definitely showed the difference between the die hard watchers who analyze the show and talked about the show and it seemed those fans liked the ending more than the passive viewer, the person who saw it from the beginning, then went away and says, “Well, I’ve got to see how it ends anyway.”
Crave Online: If you’re looking for all the answers, what more did you want than “They saved the island?”
Jorge Garcia: Yeah, or the people in the Jacob story would be like, “Okay, that’s great but then what happened before that? And then before that? Where’s the part where the Egyptians were there building the statue?” That’s going to have to be another story for someone to tell further down the line.
Crave Online: You star in the DVD epilogue.
Jorge Garcia: I appear, yeah.
Crave Online: How did it feel to do one extra thing as Hurley?
Jorge Garcia: It was cool. It was kind of fun getting a little taste. It was cool to bring Walt back to the show and just getting a hint of flavor of Hurley making his own rules when he’s in charge.
Crave Online: Was it gratifying that people wanted to see the show about Hurley and Ben running the island?
Jorge Garcia: Sure, I’m up for it. I’ll read that pilot. That’d be great.
Crave Online: Are you relieved now?
Jorge Garcia: No, that wouldn’t be the reaction I’d be thinking of. I miss my Hawaiian life but I’m also anxious to look forward to see what the next adventure’s going to be.
Crave Online: Do you have any leads on what might be next?
Jorge Garcia: Not really. I’m just going to wait and see. When the right thing comes along, I hope I know it.
